Mavericks at Work

Red Lake, a Canadian gold mining company was struggling to find the most optimum drilling locations in its recently acquired 55,000 acre mining area. The maverick CEO decided to use the power of open source thinking to tap into the best brains around the world to find the answer.

“Banking is a dead business,” declares Dennis DiFlorio, Commerce Bank’s president of retail banking and a nearly 20-year veteran of the company. “It’s a utility, like the gas company. We’re creating an emotional attachment with our customers. The world didn’t need another bank on the corner – and then we came along. We created a phenomenon, a buzz, around convenience, service, and the culture of our people. We’re wacky. The majority of people in leadership roles in this bank are on the lunatic fringe. We have to be. We’ve created a cult brand in a dead business”.

So what exactly did Red Lake and Commerce Bank do?

This book has several such fascinating stories about large and small businesses who are turning conventional thinking upside down in even the most traditional businesses. A book that is hard to put down.